


My heart went oops

by Melenaknowsbest, Sm33



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Humor, Canon Compliant, Consensual Underage Sex, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Harry Potter Next Generation, Mutual Pining, Next Generation, Oblivious Rose, Post-Canon, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:20:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28793082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melenaknowsbest/pseuds/Melenaknowsbest, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sm33/pseuds/Sm33
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy has been pinning over Rose Weasley for as long as he's known her. If he is being honest he has already given up on the idea that someday she will return his affections.That is until he jokingly suggests that they become friends with benefits and she agrees, leaving him speechless and completely at her mercy.
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter & Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy & Albus Severus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	1. Line without a hook

Rose Weasley changed into her school robes almost immediately after the train started its way towards Scotland. She took her sweet time going to the prefects’ compartment, trying to savor the bittersweet moment. It was her last year and last train to Hogwarts and despite knowing that the year ahead was going to be difficult she was looking forward to going back to the place that had been her home for the last 6 years.

Rose passed the compartments full of laughing, excited students, gently answered the shy questions of some of the first years, and finally adjusted her ponytail before entering the prefects’ compartment. It was bigger than the others, of course, since it had to fit more people. She greeted the few prefects already there and sat by the window to wait for the others. The Head boy and Head girl were still doing the first round of the train, as it was their duty, but the prefects had to be there before they arrived. Rose sighed, bored, wondering why on earth she had thought that it was a good idea to leave her bag behind along with her current read. That's when he made an appearance. The all-mighty scorpion king, her cousin's best friend, the son of her father's undesirable number one, and the current owner of the most annoying smirk on Hogwarts.

"Hey my dear Rosebud," Scorpius said, giving her a lazy smirk, "Did you have a nice summer?" she snorted at the nickname. She was quite surprised when Scorpius had been announced as a prefect the past year. He was a good student, usually quiet and focused during class, but Al always managed to somehow pull him into stupid and dangerous adventures and the teachers and headmistress were all well aware of this.

"Yes Malfoy, thank you so much for asking," she said, giving him a very fake sweet smile. "How about you? Did you terrorize many kids with your ugly face?" She said, faking her concern. Oh, Scorpius Malfoy had the opposite of an ugly face but she wasn't about to address that. She wasn't too sure exactly when it had happened. In their 5th year, he had gone through a growth spurt that had him looking lanky and awkward, on their 6th year his lanky frame had slowly but surely filled out as he managed to finally get a fixed position in the Slytherin quidditch team, and by the end of this summer he was towering over her, his boyish features long gone to give way to a chiseled jaw and aristocratic profile.

"Only about 3 or 4 but I didn't need to use my face, love. I just had to describe you." He leaned against the compartment wall. He had nothing against the beauty and brains that was Rose Weasley, it was no secret that he had been pining after her for years now, but he never seemed to make her take his compliments or dating proposals seriously. He took what he could though and enjoyed their constant teasing and bantering.

Beside them, Lindsay Furland smiled trying to hold back a laugh but chuckled anyway when Scorpius winked at her. Rose had to force herself not to roll her eyes at the sight before her, it had not been that funny, but lately, it seemed that everything Scorpius said, made the younger girls around him giggle and blush.  
"Wow good one Malfoy," she said, sarcastically. "Did you come up with it all by yourself?"

"Actually yes I did. Do you think mommy and daddy would be proud?"

"Oh yes, absolutely. Finally, proof that you are not that stupid" she said, before crossing her arms over her chest. Oh, how she'd missed bickering with Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius chuckled, "You know Weaselbee you are a lot of things but who knew funny was one of them. I think you have forgotten that I beat you in our final exams last year."

"You did not," she said, her lips set into a fine, displeased, line. "You only got a better grade in Astronomy and Potions, and there wasn't much of a difference."

"Don't forget Herbology love." He said, with a self-satisfied smile. There was nothing that got to Rose more than a little competition over grades.

"That hardly counts, it was half a point." She said, her hand going into fists.

"Whatever lets you sleep at night." He responded and then moved out of the way when the Head boy and girl entered the room.

It was a quick meeting, they were all handed their schedules and Rose didn't know if she wanted to sigh in relief or groan. She was hoping she didn't end up with the Hufflepuff prefect. She'd had a thing with him the past year and it would've made things very much awkward. Thankfully she had not been paired with him, but she was stuck with Malfoy one night a week for the rest of the year, and that was not pleasing at all, especially since they had the first round on the train.

"Come on Weasley, it seems like we have first rounds." He said, smiling innocently as he folded the schedule and dropped it into his robe's pocket, making his way out of the compartment.

"Right... Try not to make it too unpleasant, will you?" She said as she followed him out to the corridors

"Yes Ma'am," He said, and gave her a mock salute.

"You are impossible" she chuckled, shaking her head.

"I find myself to be quite possible. Especially since I'm right here."

"Malfoy would it kill you to shut up for a second?" she said, looking ahead as they walked

"Now why would I do that?"

"To give mankind a break from you for starters" she muttered

"I heard that," Scorpius said

"I wasn't trying particularly hard to be quiet," she said, looking at him over her shoulder before turning back ahead. She kept quiet, hoping maybe he would too. If she was being honest she preferred the teasing to the flirting. There was a time when she wondered if he was actually serious with his declarations of love for her, but after seeing him all cozied up with Holmes in the three broomsticks she was not so sure it wasn't some kind of joke to him.

"Did you have a stroke back there or something?" she asked after a while of quiet walking.

"Nope, just thinking about how beautiful you look this fine morning." In reality, Scorpius had been distracted by the fact that her shirt's tag was showing and he wanted to reach out and push it back inside her shirt but was slightly afraid that it would make her turn around and bite his head off. Rose Weasley was a very powerful and smart witch and she was not above jinxing him while on prefect duty.

"A while back I was annoying and ugly enough to scare kids, now I look beautiful... make up your mind Malfoy"

"You misunderstood me, Weasley, I scared the kids by describing your personality, not your looks." He said, without missing a beat, "your looks are fine, more than fine actually... you are absolutely glowing today"

She snorted. "I'd rather not have you drooling over my arse, thank you very much"

"You love it," he smirked

"You keep telling yourself that Malfoy" she chuckled with a smirk of her own.

"I will." He replied and finally gave in and pushed the tag back into her shirt, putting his hands up as she turned around, looking startled "just fixing the tag of your shirt, sorry" he explained quickly. Rose reached a hand up and rubbed the nape of her neck, her face relaxing.

"Your fingers are bloody cold Malfoy, what are you? A vampire?" she complained, deciding to keep walking and not think about the warmth that filled her stomach as he laughed at her comment...or about the shudder that had run down her back as she felt his fingers against her skin.

Just a few weeks later there was something that would've been a rare sight if they hadn't been at the library. It had started back in their fourth year. Scorpius had started sitting with Rose in the library because 'no one dared sit with her and if they did they made sure to keep quiet' and he ‘needed the silence to focus or he was going to go insane’.

Rose had profusely threatened him about not making any sounds and had gone back to work. It was clear to both of them pretty quickly that they were perfectly adequate study buddies. Since then, Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy studied together every chance they got. Albus joined them from time to time, but the boy had the horrible habit of murmuring and humming to himself while studying, which just didn't agree with either of them.

"I just don't get it" Rose spoke softly, rubbing her eyes. "What's the difference between a Mantris and a Hullan? The descriptions are practically the same'' she said, pursing her lips as she redid her messy bun.

"The Mantris can be used in powerful healing potions. Use a Hullan and the drinker is dead in seconds." Scorpius muttered without looking up from his book.

"Yes I get that, but how do you tell them apart?" she said, resting her cheek on her hand and looking at his profile as he worked.

"Mantris have a five-pointed leaf, Hullan have six."

Rose nodded, "thank you," she said, going back to her studying, biting her lip unconsciously as she made notes on what Scorpius had just told her. She was sure this information was not in the book she was reading, but she knew if he was telling her this then he had to be sure he’d gotten the information from a trustworthy source.

Scorpius glanced up at her when she wasn't looking for a few seconds. He saw her biting her lip and the way her hair was in the bun...... Nope, he needed to focus and actually finish the essay he was working on. He shook his head trying to clear his head and got right back into work.

A while later Rose leaned over the table to get a look into Scorpius' watch before looking up at him. "It's dinner time... Should we call it a night?" She asked softly, sitting back.

"Er... Yeah..." he closed his book before sliding it into his bag, definitely not looking at her as she stretched and her shirt lifted just the tiniest bit, showing some skin.

Rose picked up her things and slid them into her bag before getting up, unaware of Scorpius' internal struggle. "I have quidditch tomorrow at six," she said, as they walked out.

"I also have practice tomorrow, at four." He said, with a small shrug

"Do you want to come to the library after I’m done?" She asked looking up at him, damn he was tall. They were getting close to the library's doors.

"We have rounds, remember?" He reminded her as they neared the exit, "We’ll have to work on our homework separately. I'm going to drop my things off in the common room, later Weaselbee." He gave her a mock salute and turned away from her, putting his hands inside his pockets as he walked away.

"Later you wanker" she called after him as she made her way to the great hall, too hungry to care about carrying the weight of her backpack around.

A few more weeks passed and before either Rose or Scorpius knew it the Holidays were nearing and Rose and Scorpius were on their last rounds before they both went home the next day.

"Listen, yes, your team won but I definitely made a whole lot more points than you Malfo-" she stopped mid-sentence as she found herself unable to move and stumbling a little back, bumping into Scorpius.

Scorpius caught her with a small huff, but soon found himself unable to move as well, "What in Merlin's name is going on?" He asked

"Oh no..." Rose muttered as she looked up and noticed the small enchanted mistletoe on the ceiling. Some idiot had given Peeves a bag full of them and he had eagerly distributed them around the castle. The prefects had gone around trying to get most of them but clearly, they had still missed a few. The charm was a simple one, if two people walked under it, it locked them in place until they kissed each other as the tradition demanded. She felt her cheeks redden and cursed under her breath. This could not be happening, and especially not with Scorpius Malfoy

"Wha-" Scorpius started to say before he looked up too and saw the mistletoe, "oh, wonderful!" he chuckled looking down at her with a smirk. "Come on, hurry up and get those pretty lips up here" he teased, puckering his lips and making kissing sounds at her.  
"Oh sod off Malfoy" she pushed him away with no success and pulled out her wand to try and break the charm.  
"Come on Rosebud, no need to be such a downer. It's just a small kiss" he teased "Or is it that you're a bad kisser and you don't want me to know? I could give you a few pointers if you'd like"  
She dropped her hand rolling her eyes "I'll have you know I'm a wonderful kisser Malfoy, better than you I'm sure" she stuck her tongue out at him. "now shut up and let me get us out of here"  
"Come on Rose it's not that big of a deal," Scorpius said, poking her side "just a tiny kiss and we can be on our merry way" he pushed.  
"Fine" she sighed, giving up and looking up at him, feeling victorious as he gaped at her, surprised. She took advantage of it and closed her fist around his tie, using it as leverage to pull him down to reach his lips. It's not that she liked him or anything but well, his lips looked very soft and she was tired and she really didn't want to think about a counter charm for the bloody thing.

Rose had been expecting an awkward peck on the lips, but Scorpius was the one to surprise her as his lips moved expertly over hers, the smell of his cologne and the warmth of his body invading her senses. Rose broke the kiss flushed, and made sure to avoid his eyes, not knowing what to expect of him.

"Er..." Scorpius cleared his throat, "We should probably head back..."

"Yeah... Yeah, we should" Rose said, as they continued on their way to their common rooms. Scorpius usually dropped her off at hers after rounds so they headed there. Why is he so quiet? Rose thought. She had been sure he was going to make some remark about how she'd enjoyed the kiss or whatever, but he was completely quiet and it was freaking her out a little.

Finally, after a long stretch of silence, they reached the Gryffindor common room.  
"I'll see you around..." He said as she opened the door, "Have a good holiday Rose..."  
He mentally scolded himself, why did his brain decide to stop working now? Oh yeah because Rose bloody Weasley had decided to kiss him.

Rose was frozen for a moment. He never called her by her first time. She'd had a hard time not stealing a glance at his lips as they walked. It felt weird now to call him Malfoy but she never called him.." goodnight Scorpius, you too" there, she said, it. Rose rushed into the common room. Convinced that that had been one of the most awkward moments of her life. She shook her head, maybe next morning they would've forgotten about this and just bicker again.

"What happened?" Albus asked as Scorpius entered their dorm. "You look weird, did you find ghosts going at it again..?"

"Yeah.... something like that...." Scorpius said, not really looking at his best friend, still freaking out a little bit about the whole ordeal.

"What did you find?" He asked, looking at Scorpius' back as he looked for his pajamas.

"Nothing," Scorpius said, as he changed, putting his t-shirt on backward without realizing it.

"But you said, you found something," Albus said. They were alone in the dorm since the other guys were still in the common room. "Seriously mate, you're killing me here. What was it?" Scorpius just went over to his bed and got under the covers, fighting the urge to touch his lips like some schoolgirl in a rom-com.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell your best friend about the fun things you find in Hogwarts at night it's alright," Albus said, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"You are such a prick..." Scorpius muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You're the prick, keeping things to yourself," he said, chuckling and threw a pillow at him.

Scorpius caught the pillow and threw it back at him, "It really isn't that exciting."

"Sure, that's why you're being so secretive about it" Albus scoffed and laid back down.

Scorpius sighed and turned off the lights, bracing himself for Albus' reaction. "Rose kissed me...." he muttered

"What?!" Albus said, and Scorpius could hear him sit up in his bed. Scorpius stayed quiet, not sure if he should elaborate or not.

"Hey, you can't just say something like that and shut up," Albus said, groaned as he crossed his arms over his chest though making no movements to get up

"We were doing our rounds and got stuck by that stupid enchanted mistletoe." He explained "and, well...she was going to break the charm, but then decided against it and just kissed me. Like... on the lips, actually kissed me"

Albus stayed quiet for a moment "Mate... couldn't you wait until after the holiday break? I had a bet with Vic, now I owe her five galleons" he complained.

"you were expecting this?" he squeaked, surprised "does...does she like me?"

"Woah woah hold your horses. Look, it's no secret that there is some kind of unresolved tension between you two, I said, you were probably going to make out by the end of this year, Vic was sure it would happen before the holidays and James was betting that Rose would never even give you a second glance" he clarified "To be honest I was kind of giving up on you guys, Rose denied having any feelings towards you when Lily asked, but I don't know mate, maybe something has changed. Have you done anything different lately?"

"No..." Scorpius said, softly, "I mean, I called her by her first name..."  
He knew that sounded incredibly stupid.

"Wow Romeo, don't you think you're going too fast? Calling someone by their first name is a big deal you know?" Albus teased.

Scorpius turned and threw his pillow at Albus, "Prick." He muttered

"I'm not the one going around walking into mistletoe to kiss girls" Albus countered.

"You think I did it on purpose?" Scorpius scoffed.

"Who knows? Maybe you did, maybe it was her" Albus offered, chuckling when Scorpius groaned and turned around, burying his face on his pillow. "You are no help Al" he muttered and Albus laughed, getting comfortable. Despite his teasing, he hoped that Rose knew what she was doing. Scorpius's feelings for her were very much real and Al worried that she would accidentally break his heart.

During Christmas break, Rose easily forgot about the incident with Scorpius. Between cousins and family, she spent Christmas without a care in the world. A couple of days before it was time to go back to Hogwarts, Rose and Hugo went over to the Potter's so their parents could have a romantic dinner to celebrate their anniversary, as they did every year. Rose was curled up in the living room in some tight jeans and a nice big sweater, reading as James and Albus played exploding snap when the bell rang.

"Didn't uncle Harry and aunt Ginny just leave?" Rose asked looking up.

"It's Scorpius," Albus explained getting up quickly.

"Too slow Al!" Lily called from the door before Albus could get there, "Hi Scorpius! " She beamed at him.

"Hey Lils," Scorpius said, coming inside, his smile matching hers.

"We're in the living room" James called and Rose nervously fixed her hair, putting it all to one side as she avoided looking at Scorpius taking off his fancy coat and folding it neatly to leave it aside. It's not that she was nervous to be around him or something, it had just taken her by surprise to see him all dressed up in some muggle clothing. They really suited him.

"Hey mate," Al said, smiling as did James. The Potter's had long abandoned prejudices for the Malfoy family. Rose's mother had joined them, thinking it was best to move on from the war, however, her father thought differently, leaving her little brother Hugo to not be completely open to Scorpius. She knew both Albus and James had been to Malfoy Manor and that Scorpius spent a lot of time in her cousins’ house, but she didn’t know he was going to be there.

"Hey, guys." Scorp said, with a smile, "Hey Weaselbee." He met her eyes and gave her a wink.

"Hey little Ferret," Rose answered, hoping he would not notice the blush on her cheeks. She stood up and made her way to the kitchen to get some water anyway, hoping the small distraction would help her face go back to normal.

"Clever as always..." He muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I see nothing has changed the year I’ve been gone from school" James chuckled, "did you two finally declare your love for each other?" He teased flopping back on the couch.  
"Not exactly," Albus chuckled giving Scorpius a knowing look. Rose caught it and looked over at Scorpius. Did Albus know? Had he told anyone? He certainly hadn't mentioned it to her yet, but she hadn't seen him that much either since she'd spent most of her time speaking with Victoria.

"I see you have changed much either. How's training going?" Scorpius asked James sitting down beside him in an attempt to change the subject and avoiding Rose’s eyes.

"Great, very tiring but great. The uniform attracts a crazy amount of female attention." He said, with a smirk.

"Very nice mate," Scorpius nodded in agreement

"Mom says if he keeps bringing a new girl every other week to meet them she'll disown him" Albus chuckled.

"You are incredible," Rose said, shaking her head as she opened her book again.

"You know what I say. To win you've got to play the game and James mate you are playing it very well."

"To win... What exactly" Rose inquired with an innocent smile, just to annoy them.

"The girl of his dreams," Scorpius said, dramatically

"The shag of my dreams more precisely," James said, snickering.

Rose rolled her eyes. "I thought guys were supposed to grow out of their sex-crazed hormones," she teased as she shook her head disapprovingly.

"Sorry love." Scorpius said, "They're here to stay."

"Well-" Rose was stopped mid-sentence by her book falling to the floor. She swiftly stood up and went to pick it up. Scorpius glanced her way when he saw her bend over and had his eyes on her a little too long. As he looked away he noticed Albus giving him a look and shaking his head. Scorpius had the decency to blush and look down.

"Hey, want to play exploding snap?" James said as he shuffled the cards.

"Yeah sure..." Scorpius muttered, avoiding anyone’s eyes.

"I want to play too," Rose from behind him. They decided to move over to the dining table to play together.

"James you can start..." Scorpius said, not really looking at him still

Rose had Scorpius in front of her. At first, she had managed to focus on the game but as time passed she found herself distracted by every small detail about him. He was more quiet than usual as they played, apparently more concentrated in his cards, he was wearing a t-shirt that hugged his very nice arms and his hair was tousled back and slightly longer than what he usually kept it. She shook her head and tried to concentrate on her cards, it had just been a stupid kiss, nothing to lose her mind about.

The game they were playing ended in a tie and about halfway through Mr. And Mrs. Potter came back home from their errands. They started preparing for dinner so it was time to start washing up. Albus had asked Scorpius to stay the night, which he did quite frequently since the pair became friends.

After dinner, there was a knock on the door. "Scorpius dear, would you mind getting that?" Ginny asked since he had helped her bring dishes to the kitchen and was right there

"Of course." He said and opened the door to see Rose's parents standing in there.

"Oh hello, Scorpius... Are Harry and Ginny home?" Hermione was the first to speak. Ron's eyebrow furrowed but he didn't say anything just yet.

It took Scorpius a moment to answer, "Yes of course... Mrs. Potter just asked me to get the door..." He said, a bit nervously, knowing Rose's father did not like him very much, and he moved out of the way to let them in. Ron passed him without giving him a second glance.

After closing the door he made his way back to the living room. As he passed by the kitchen door he caught a bit of the whispered conversation going on there"I don't know how you keep inviting that boy over" Ron was saying to Ginny.

"Oh, Ron..." Ginny sighed, "He's a very kind and well-mannered boy. I'll never understand why you won't give up your grudge against his family...He's Al's best mate. Those two are like you and Harry.."

"That's even worse," he said, grumbled.

"Ronald... I have let my son go to Scorpius' house many times, and Draco is still to give him back with a scratch. Albus and James only speak wonders of the place" she said, drying her hands.

"Anyway, Why did you come back so early? I wasn't expecting you two till tomorrow morning." Ginny asked now addressing Hermione.

"I have a headache so decided to call it an early night," Hermione answered this time, “we didn't want to bother you with the children if there wasn't a need to"

"Oh it's never a bother," Ginny said, giving her a smile. "You know I love to have them here"

Scorpius went down the hallway to the living room as he heard some shuffling in the room, if he stayed there he was surely going to get caught eavesdropping "Oi, Weaslebee, your parents are here." He said, to Rose and then slowly turned around when Al said, "Hi Uncle Ron..........." Oh, he was so dead.

"Hi..." Ron said, in a tight voice and Rose's laugh filled the room. "Hi dad," she said, as she went over to him and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry it's just a joke between us," she explained with a soft voice, she didn't want her father killing Scorpius but she didn't want Scorpius to think she'd be defending him just because.

"Right," Ron said, in a tight voice. "Rose, Hugo, we're leaving," he said, before making his way to Harry's office.

"You are so dead mate" James snickered as Hugo silently stood up to go look for his mother.

"Tell me something I don't know..." Scorpius muttered.

"Mom," they heard Hugo said, from the kitchen, "Can we please stay the night?"

"I don't know..."

"Please mom, Rose can apparate us home tomorrow morning" Hugo pleaded, he was actually having a good time playing with his cousins and he didn’t want to cut the night short.

"I'll make sure they are home right after breakfast," Ginny said, giving Hermione a small smile. "You go and rest until you feel better"

"If you are sure," Hermione said, with a small smile

"No, absolutely not." Ron interrupted them as he came back to the living room followed by Harry.

"Why not?" Hermione asked not understanding what was wrong. Could he possibly be so prejudiced against Scorpius after all these years?

"I absolutely refuse to have my children spend another minute with that Malfoy boy." He said, and they saw Hermione and Ginny join them in the living room looking shocked, "He is just like his father. No good."

Scorpius knew that Albus and James were right behind him, he had never felt more embarrassed, especially since Rose was right there.

"I'm- I’ll be right back" he muttered and stepped outside into the backyard since it was the door closest to him. He didn't even bother to cast a warming spell around him, he just crossed his arms and tried to ease the knot his stomach was in.

"Ronald!" Hermione said, appalled having known that Scorpius was right there and at the same time Rose said, "Dad!" Before she could stop herself.

Scorpius just let the cold surround him, this was not the first time he had had to deal with comments like those but they hurt anyway, especially coming from the father of the girl he liked. He cared about what Rose thought and he couldn't help but wonder if what he meant as simple teasing was actually hurting a person he cared about.

"Am I really so bad..?" He asked his voice soft when he heard the door open behind him thinking it was either Al or James

"You are sometimes.." Rose said, joking softly, trying to cheer him up. "But not for the reasons my father thinks you are"

"Then why?" Scorpius asked looking out ahead.

Rose stayed quiet for a moment. She put her arms tight around her, wishing she had stopped to grab a coat before going after Scorpius.  
"You aren't..." Rose said, softly. "I was just joking..... You're a bit annoying when you tease me but you make up for it the rest of the time" she said, so quietly she prayed silently he had heard it, not wanting to say it again. It was weird, being this honest with him, seeing him so hurt.

Scorpius was quiet for a few moments before speaking, "You know that I don't mean anything when I call you names right?" He asked turning to face her slightly and for the first time ever Rose could see a vulnerable look upon his face.

"I know...." She said, giving him a small reassuring smile. "Don't forget l also call you names," she stepped closer to him, worried that her father's comment had hurt him much. She knew he'd had to fight the prejudice against his family his whole life, it was not fair of her father of all people to be like that.

Scorpius gave her a small smile though it was slightly forced. He wanted to thank her but it felt slightly strange. He said, it anyway, "Thanks..." and then wanted to slap himself when he added, "It's cute that you care..."Why couldn't he just shut up for once?

She wasn't all that sure how to answer that, but she gave a shot at trying to get a smile out of him. "Is this what you do to girls you think are cute Malfoy? Let them freeze in the middle of a snowy night?" She teased with a small smile.

"Not all the time... Only the special ones. " He replied and his smile widened a bit.

"I feel so honored to be one of the special ones," she said, sarcastically with a chuckle and Scorpius thought he'd never seen something more beautiful than Rose Weasley with little snowflakes in her auburn hair and her lips red from the cold, her arms tight around her slender frame.

Scorpius gave her a small smile, before taking out his wand and casting a warming spell around her.

"Thank you.." Rose said, with a small sigh as she felt the warmth envelope her. "You should come back inside, my mother took my father back home and let us stay..."

"I'll be back in a minute. You go on."

"Don't let my father get to you..." She said, softly. "He's wrong, he just... He can be very thick sometimes" she put a reassuring hand on his arm.

Scorpius turned to look at her when he felt her touch, "I won't... Thanks, Rose..."

Rose felt something she couldn't quite place as he called her by her first name. Maybe it was just the way her name rolled off his tongue but she found herself wishing at the same time that he did it more often and that he didn't do it at all. "You are welcome Scorpius," she said, softly looking into his eyes. "Now come on," she said, with a playful smile tugging at his arm. "Stop asking the universe for a cold and come back inside. "

Scorpius gave her a small smile and followed her back into the house

Once they were back inside both Rose and Scorpius ignored the weird looks James and Albus gave them. It was very late when they all decided to go to sleep. Rose slept with Lilly and the boys decided they would all sleep in James' room, which was the biggest.

"Oh, I reckon my brother is going to have a heart attack when her little girl tells him she's in love with a Malfoy" Ginny chuckled as she curled into Harry's arms that night.  
"They are not together, are they?" Harry said, taking his glasses off and putting them aside.  
"No, they aren't... But did you see them? I don't think it's too long until it happens." She chuckled.

The next morning Rose woke up early, as she often did. She got up and stretched a little before making her way downstairs still half-asleep. "Morning aunt Ginny, can I help you with anything?" she mumbled.

"Good morning Rose," the woman said, as she made plates fly to the enlarged table, "I’m all set here, thank you... maybe just should start waking up the others, food is almost ready and, dare I say all of them are not morning guys." She said, with a small laugh.

Rose smiled and made her way up, she went over to Lily first, leaving the sweater she had been wearing in the room and staying only in her tank top and pajama pants as she went to wake up the boys. She was not expecting shirtless Scorpius Malfoy to be the first thing she saw when she opened the door.

Well, she needed to clarify. He wasn’t really shirtless, he was sleeping beside Albus on a mattress on the floor and not only had her cousin had stolen all the covers, but his hoodie had also ridden up and she had a perfect view of his firm abdomen and the faint line of hair that led into his pants. Rose swallowed and willed herself to look away, noticing Albus stirring in his sleep.

"Guys.." She said, and her voice sounded very weirdly heated. "Guys," she said, again with more force, composing herself.

"What do you want Rose?" Albus muttered, not opening his eyes.

"Breakfast is ready.."

"Can't mom just save us some?" James muttered his head under his pillow.

Scorpius was the last to wake, "I'm with James." He said, opening one eye slightly before closing it again.

"Nope, I have orders to get you off the bed you lazy bums." She said, playfully and she admired how Scorpius’ muscles contracted as he groaned and buried his face in the pillow. Oh, Rose would go to hell for admitting this but Scorpius Malfoy was one hot bloke. She shook her head and went over to James getting the pillow off him. "Come on wake up" she said, tickling his foot, which she knew he hated.

James squirmed and almost kicked her out of reflex sitting up, "never do that again," he said, in a threatening voice.

Rose giggled, jumping out of his reach. "I wouldn't have done it if you had woken up." She said, giving him a look.

"Yeah yeah..." He scoffed, sitting up and ruffling his hair. Beside him, Hugo was rubbing the sleep of his eyes. Meanwhile, Al and Scorpius seemed to have fallen asleep once more

"Oh come on you guys," Rose said, looking at the pair and going over to poke Albus’s ribs.

"Sod off Rose" he muttered.

"Wake up," she said, jumping on top of him and tickling him as she used to do when they were little.

"Ah!" He screamed and pushed her off him, "Rose!"

Scorpius had turned to watch Rose tickling Albus with eyes half-opened and barely had time to move as Rose fell over him. He managed to avoid them hitting each other's head.  
"Merlin, I'm sorry," Rose said, a soft blush on her cheeks as she tried to get off him. She was in a funny position, her legs over Albus but the upper part of her body all over Scorpius. James snorted and Hugo chuckled sitting on his bed as Rose tried to sit up in the small space between the two guys with much difficulty

Scorpius helped Rose sit up, "It's ok.." He said, chuckling his face slightly red.

"I hate mornings" Albus groaned against the pillow, too sleepy to even make a comment about the blush in Rose and Scorpius’ face.

"Boys come on, food is getting cold" Ginny called from downstairs.

"We’re coming mom," James called. "Come on lovebirds, quit the blushing and hurry up," he said, making Rose’s blush deepen as she and Scorpius got up. Rose looked up at him only to find that he was already looking at her.

“We should um...go,” she provided. Scorpius could only nod and follow her down, too focused on the fact that he’d noticed that Rose was not wearing a bra under her very tight undershirt.

Rose found she couldn't quite meet Scorpius' eyes as they ate, but she didn’t have to, right? She was having breakfast not a conversation with him, she thought as she put honey over her pancakes.

Scorpius didn't really look at Rose throughout breakfast because his eyes would always drift to her chest. Come on Scorp... He thought to himself, don’t be a child. It felt like a long breakfast

"Is that all?" Rose asked once they finished cleaning up from breakfast.

"Yeah" James said.

"Well I’m going up to change, my mother wanted us home after breakfast," she said, giving Hugo a look. The boy groaned but made his way up to the room to change.

After Rose and Hugo changed they came back down and hugged their family goodbye and Scorpius gave Rose a small wave goodbye. He ignored the looks from the boys and they went on with their day until Scorpius had to go home.

Once back at school Rose and Scorpius avoided mentioning the mistletoe incident. Rose was trying to forget all about it but it was proving to be more difficult than expected. For one, she had just recently started noticing just how soft and inviting Scorpius’ lips were. It didn’t help either that he was also a tall, fairly attractive guy and that after she and her ex had broken up all the guys she had been interested in had been assholes. She really just needed to blow off some steam with a guy who would not brag about it later to his friends or treat her like she was worth nothing.

"Hey, Rose, can I ask you something personal?" Scorpius asked after a long while of silent walk while they patrolled, taking her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, sure," she said, looking up at him.

Scorpius nodded and seemed to take some time to formulate his question.

"So...I heard your thing with Lucas didn't work out..." Scorpius started, looking a bit fidgety.

"It was hardly a thing.." She scoffed. "He asked me to help him with transfiguration, spent the whole time flirting, then kissed me out of the blue.."

"I thought you liked him," He said, teasingly, "Was he not a good kisser?"

"I thought he was attractive, but I’m not interested in a guy that nods over everything I say while he looks down my cleavage," she said, rolling her eyes "and also, he was a horrible kisser” she chuckled “it was super sloppy and disgusting”

Scorpius scoffed, "I don’t know why you bother with that guy when you have someone like me around.” he teased, poking her side. “I’m a great kisser and I am at your full disposal for any impromptu makeout sessions” he winked at her.

"Are you really a good kisser? According to who?" She said, her eyebrows questioning.

"You know I don’t kiss and tell, but there are several girls and some guys that would back up my statement”

"Right..." Rose said, considering the risks of taking him up on his offer. “well why don’t you kiss me and prove it then?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“what?” Scorpius breathed, his heart racing in his chest, he was dreaming, he was surely dreaming.

“I- I mean, you did say you were available for a snog.” Rose said, quickly “and I just really need to blow off some steam. We’re friends, right? friends can help each other blow off steam with no strings attached right?” she was saying ‘right’ too much, she was sure of it. Of course, he had only been kidding, he was about to laugh in her face and say she was crazy, she couldn’t look up at him, she just couldn’t.

Suddenly Rose felt a hand on her shoulder, turning her towards Scorpius. They had stopped walking. “Do you mean it?” Scorpius asked, his voice small “I mean, I’m down if you are.”

“Well, yeah,” she said, looking down at his lips for a moment “Just as friends, of course, I really don’t like you that way but...well I know I can trust you” she shut up before she said, too much.

Scorpius was in a trance as he lifted his hand and gently caressed her cheek, moving his hand along her jaw before settling it on the nape of her neck “Right…” he murmured, “no feelings, just a good ol’ snog” he teased and smiled as she scoffed. He lowered his face until his lips touched hers and thought he was surely going to have a heart attack while kissing Rose Weasley.

Rose slid her hands over his chest softly until she reached the neck of his shirt. Oh, this was good, very good. Rose pulled him closer by his shirt, making him stand with one of his legs between hers. She felt him inhale sharply at her sudden roughness and smirked against his lips. Rose slid one of her hands around his neck and ran her nails softly over his scalp before biting his lip playfully.

She felt him gasp against her lips and as soon as she had released his lips he was moving on to kiss his way down to her neck. Her nails dug into his back as she contained a moan. "If you leave a mark there I am going to kill you" she muttered into his ear.

"Whatever you say, boss," He whispered, his voice low in her ear, before going back to her lips. She felt a shudder down her spine, feeling dizzy. He had one hand on her neck and another placed on her lower back, pulling her closer to him. She felt pinned to the spot, she didn’t want the moment to end, she didn’t want to go back to reality, she wanted to stay there, pressed to Scorpius’ strong and warm body while he murmured sweet nothings against her lips and made the most sinful sounds.

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled them away. Scorpius let go of her like she was burning him and they both looked around the empty hallway to try and identify where the sound came from. “It’s not very appropriate for two prefects to be involved in illicit activities while they are patrolling the school,” a woman with a playful smirk said, from the painting to their right.

Rose’s shoulders relaxed “you’re right we’re very sorry, we’ll um.. go on now” she murmured and took Scorpius’ hand to pull him away. As they finally turned the corner and got away from the watchful eyes of the painting they both started laughing.

“Merlin I almost had a heart attack” Scorpius chuckled once he managed to calm down. If possible he looked much sexier with his hair in a mess and his shirt disheveled.

Scorpius fixed his shirt and looked at her, noticing the way her messy hair framed her face making her look even more beautiful. They looked at each other for a moment. They had a purely physical attraction, that's what Rose told herself as he said, her next words.

“That was really nice, wasn’t it?” she murmured “We should do it again sometime...it was a shame that we were interrupted so rudely,” she finished, already walking in the direction of the last wing of the castle that they had to patrol. Scorpius could only make a sound of agreement, trying to calm his racing heart at the prospect of kissing Rose Wesley again.

Rose soon found out that she enjoyed being Scorpius' friend with benefits way too much. She wasn't sure at first what it was that she liked so much but she slowly came to accept that it was the way he looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he'd seen all day, it was the way his hands moved over her body in an almost reverent way, it was the breathy way in which he murmured her name when she kissed that sensitive spot just under his jaw. To put it simply, she couldn't get enough.

She also enjoyed very much the way she could take him by surprise when she pulled him into a snog session in new and riskier places. In fact, she was about to suggest that they desecrate their one sacred place, the library. It was late in the evening, most students were in the great hall having dinner, so she was pretty sure the chance that someone would walk in on them was pretty low.

Rose finished the last paragraph of her essay with a satisfied sigh, glad to be finally finished with the bloody thing. She'd been working on it non-stop for a week now and she was honestly done with the subject. She stroked the back of her neck as she stretched it and gave herself a moment to admire the blonde boy before her. He looked thoughtful and tired, Scorpius was running a hand through his hair as he tapped the pen he was using to write against his soft, full lips.

"Hey" she murmured to get his attention and a pair of grey eyes quickly met hers. “I just finished, do you have much left?”

“Not much really, to be honest, I think I will finish tomorrow. I’m too tired to think” he sighed.

“Been there” she nodded in understanding and stood up to stretch “would you help me get these books back to the arithmancy section?” she asked innocently, signaling the huge pile of books on the table. Scorpius nodded and followed her to the back of the library. They made a quick job of putting the books back in place. Once finished, Scorpius was about to make his way back to their things when Rose took his hand.

“Sit down” she ordered signaling a chair in a nearby table and his heart raced. He was still surprised when Rose wanted to snog him, he had to fight the urge to pinch himself every time. His pulse quickened, partly because they were in the library, where any student could walk in on them, and partly because he knew he ought to say no.

At first, he’d thought kissing Rose would be harmless but he’d soon realized that it was slowly breaking his heart. Each caress, each small sound she made, each mark she left on his skin was a painful reminder that this was temporary, that he was just a guy she was using to take her mind off things for a while and that she was never going to reciprocate his feelings.

His train of thought came to a halt as she gracefully sat on his lap, straddling him, and put her arms around his neck “thought we could mix things up a little” she murmured, making a small sound as his hands went to her thighs, caressing the warm skin softly. Rose leaned forward, joining their lips on a slow and lazy kiss. She moved her hands up, curling them around his soft hair, running her nails softly along his scalp. By now she knew how much he liked this. She could feel his hands twitch against her skin and then move up, caressing the sides of her body with both hands, feeling every curve of her body.

Scorpius couldn’t help but give a small whimper as Rose’s tongue stroked against his own. “you can touch me, you know?” she breathed against his lips as she moved one of her hands to grab one of his and move it towards her breast. Scorpius drowned his moan against her lips, feeling his head go foggy as desire pooled between his legs. He took the invitation and tested his luck, moving his hands under her shirt after a moment to feel her full breasts, only covered by what seemed to be a lacy bra. He could feel the hard nub of her nipple under the fabric and he moved his lips down her neck, hoping she would let him undo a few buttons of her shirt to see what her bra looked like, he needed to know, he needed to. Rose rolled her hips in a slow, lazy grind forward, feeling the bulge in his pants, her underwear dampening with the thought of kneeling down in front of him right now, in the middle of the library, and pulling out his erection, closing her lips over it and watching him try and keep quiet. She whimpered quietly, her grip on his hair tightening as she pulled his head up to catch his lips in a bruising kiss.

“R-Rose” he stuttered her name when she ground her hips against him again, the friction feeling heavenly between her legs “we should- uh...we should stop” he managed “Madam P-Pince will soon start to go around the library” Rose tried to calm her breathing before speaking at all. She didn’t know how much time had passed since they started snogging but he was right, it was already almost time for the library to close when they had left the table, and the last thing she wanted was to get detention.

“Sorry… got a little bit carried away there” she cleared her throat, gingerly standing up “are you okay to go back now?” she asked, a small smirk on her lips as her eyes drifted down a bit. He blushed madly under her scrutiny and she thanked the heavens that he couldn’t see exactly how damp her underwear was and reciprocate the teasing.

“you go ahead, I’ll be right there” he murmured, running a hand through his hair. Rose chuckled and made a small sound of agreement. She started packing both their things as she waited for him, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. After a few moments, Scorpius appeared, looking composed as ever, except for the soft blush on his cheeks.

They made their way to the great hall together, engaging in small talk about the upcoming tests they had and were surprised to find Albus at the Slytherin table having a late dinner. Rose sat down with them, not wanting to eat alone, and failed to notice the way his cousin’s eyes widened as he noticed a reddening hickey in Rose’s neck. Scorpius noticed though, and couldn’t help but blush madly as his eyes met Albus’. Albus continued eating without any further comment and Scorpius wondered if he had misinterpreted the whole thing until they arrived at their common room and Albus confronted him.

“Are you and Rose finally dating?” He asked bluntly and Scorpius fidgeted nervously with his bag’s strap as he muttered “not exactly.”

“What do you mean not exactly?” he pressed as they made their way up to their dorm “look, I noticed you seemed to have been sneaking around with someone lately, then my cousin came to dinner with you with a hickey that seemed pretty recent on her neck...if you’re not secretly dating, what is going on then?”

Scorpius sighed before answering, knowing Albus would not be happy. “Well, we have been snogging from time to time for a few weeks now but uh...well Rose made it pretty clear she is not interested in anything beyond that so for now I guess we’re just friends who occasionally snog each other” he explained, not daring to meet his friend’s eyes.

“And you’re okay with this?” Albus scoffed “look, I get the need to snog someone just because but did it have to be with her? You have actual feelings for her”

“I know” Scorpius sighed “to be honest I was the one to suggest it, but I didn’t expect her to say yes” he dropped into his bed, defeated “I really underestimated how it would affect me though” he added in a small murmur.

Albus was thoughtful for a moment. He knew Rose was really smart, but she could also be pretty daft. Albus was pretty sure she was completely capable of breaking Scorpius’ heart without being aware of and he refused to let that happen. “You need to put a stop to this mate” he finally said, “she’s not gonna wake up one day and decide that she’s in love with you just because you’re snogging her and this is clearly hurting you”

“I know that” Scorpius muttered “I just…I can’t say no to her”

“I can talk to her if you want,” Albus offered, “I can just say I’m not comfortable with you two snogging or something,” he shrugged.

“Nah, this is my problem to solve,” Scorpius shook his head,“I will find a way to tell her,”

As a matter of fact, he did not find a way to tell her. As March rolled around, their arrangement was still going and Scorpius was enduring regular talks from Albus about the stupidity of what he was doing. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything though, he was spending more time than ever with Rose and their teasing had become more playful and flirtatious.

The morning of their last quidditch match before Easter break she sat down to have breakfast with him, already in her uniform “good morning loser”, she teased, looking awfully confident.

Scorpius shook his head, “you have it backward love, you are going to get your cute ass kicked today” he teased back.

“It’s cute that you think that, don’t worry I will be nice to you after the game,” she smirked.

“Yeah? What are you gonna do for me when I win?” Scorpius challenged.

“When I win, I will take you to Hogsmeade and let you buy me a butterbeer at the three broomsticks” she winked at him.

“Sure” he shook his head “if I win though, I want you to buy me all the candy I want from Honeydukes”

“It’s a deal” she extended her hand over to him and they shook on it.

The next day they sat down together in a booth at the three broomsticks and Scorpius made a show of dropping the huge bag of candy that he’d made Rose buy him in the middle of the table. “Want some?” He asked with the most annoying smirk Rose had ever seen.

“No thanks,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh, come on Rosebud, don’t be a sore loser” he chuckled “look I will even buy you that butterbeer that I promised” he smiled and, before Rose could even process what he was doing, leaned over, gave her a kiss on the cheek and stood up “I want that frown gone when I come back with the drinks” he ordered her, “you are ruining my celebration”, and with a final smile her way, he was gone.

Rose sighed and took a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart. She just didn’t know how to deal with Scorpius when he was being... when he was being... well, cute. Slytherin had won the game against Gryffindor the past day and he had wasted no time in reminding her about their promise. Truth was Rose was a sore loser and she had been pouting and complaining all day afterward. She was still in a bad mood when she met Scorpius at the great hall to have breakfast together, but her mood had slowly but surely improved with Scorpius’ stupid jokes and good-natured teasing.

Scorpius spent the rest of the afternoon buying her drinks and making her laugh with his stupid jokes. Rose felt like she wasn’t even aware of what time it was or how much time had passed. By the time they started to make their way to the castle, the sun was setting and the temperature had gone down a few degrees. “Bloody hell, I should’ve brought my coat” Rose shuddered as she put her arms around herself. The day had been so nice that morning she had gone out wearing only her favorite baggy t-shirt.

Scorpius shook his head beside her and took off his crewneck sweatshirt, unintentionally giving Rose a peek of his well-defined abs in the process, making her mouth go dry. “Here,” he said, handing her the warm garment, “my shirt is long-sleeved, I’ll be fine” he was giving her the sweetest smile and Rose found that she was having trouble forming a coherent sentence so she just nodded and slipped on the sweatshirt. Rose had to hold back a small moan as she was hit with the smell of the perfume he liked to use, she wanted to bury her nose in the soft fabric and breathe deeply. She composed herself and uttered her thanks to him as they started walking again, wondering if she was slowly going insane or if something was wrong with her.

They made their way to the castle in comfortable silence. As they went past the main doors Scorpius stopped and turned to her, “I actually need to go by the library to finish up my essay for potions so I guess this is where we part” he smiled at her, looking like some kind of male veela as the last rays of sun illuminated his face with golden light.

“Oh…” Rose didn’t know what to say, she wanted to spend more time with him but she had nothing to work on right now and she was honestly tired, she was pretty sure she would not be able to actually be productive right now, “well… good luck with that, I’ll see you tomorrow then” she offered.

“Yep, sadly you’re not getting rid of me any time soon Weaselbee” he teased, winking at her as he turned to leave.

“Scorpius” she called, before she could stop herself, “I had a great time today, thank you” she murmured, watching his lips part slightly in surprise.

“Yeah, I had a great time too… let’s do it again some time” he smiled, recovering. She just managed to nod as a soft blush spread on her cheeks. Rose turned and left, rushing back to her dorm as she tried to calm down her racing heart, seriously, what was wrong with her?

“Ooh” her friend, Amber Zabini, greeted her as she entered the dorms “you are back from your date?”

“It was not a date” Rose murmured as she dropped into her bed and finally indulged in burying her nose in the collar of the sweatshirt, Merlin it smelled heavenly.

“Could’ve fooled me” Amber scoffed, “I saw you all cozied up at the three broomsticks” she wiggled her eyebrows at Rose, “and that is most definitely not your sweatshirt”

“Sod off” she groaned blushing madly, “we’re just... Frenemies who occasionally snog.” Right, that’s all it was.

“Frenemies?” Amber openly laughed, “Rose you make eyes at each other all day!”

Rose’s blush deepened “I…” she swallowed “No, I don’t like him like that, I already told you” she busied herself with changing into her pajamas, putting the sweatshirt back on over them.

Amber eyed her with skepticism, knowing it was no use arguing with Rose. She was as thick as they came and had trouble accepting her feelings. “Sure Rose” she conceded after a moment, going back to reading the book she'd set aside when Rose had entered.

Rose woke up the next morning, half her face buried in the neck of Scorpius’ sweatshirt, her heart racing, and Scorpius’ voice echoing in her mind. She’d dreamed of him. In her dream, he hugged her and she buried her nose in the crook of his neck. Scorpius kissed her cheek and murmured “I love you, Rose, I love you so much” and dream-Rose had looked up at him and kissed him, murmuring “me too, I love you so so much” against his lips.

Oh shit. She had feelings for Scorpius bloody Malfoy. Her parents were going to kill her... well, her dad was going to kill her. If he likes you back you mean, a traitorous voice in her head said. Oh Merlin’s saggy balls, did he like her back?

Rose’s heart raced, her stomach turned, her teeth gritted, this could not be happening.

Rose skipped breakfast, opting for going to class early, then almost skipped class altogether when she remembered that she shared the same class with Scorpius. She almost squealed when he poked her side and teased her about arriving late to class. For the rest of the class she couldn’t concentrate, hyper-aware of Scorpius. Her mind reeled, What if he didn’t like her back? What if her father found out and killed her? What if they started dating and she had to meet Scorpius’ super scary, ex-death eater dad? What if Albus was mad at her for sneaking around with his best friend? This was a mess, a horrible and terrifying mess that Rose didn’t want any part of.

Seeing Scorpius was too much. Maybe because they had been spending more time together, he noticed something was going on with her and decided to make it his job to help her. She couldn’t take it, she couldn’t, so for the next few days, she avoided him.

Scorpius was making his way to the lake with some guys when he spotted her. He excused himself from his friends and made a beeline for Rose, hoping to catch her in a good mood and finally understand what was going on with her.

“Hey Weaselbee” he teased leaning against a tree, keeping some distance.

“Oh, Scorpius…” she bit her lip nervously, “I was actually just leaving”

“Did I do something wrong that the great Rose Weasley is now avoiding me?” He teased, voicing his concerns.

“No, it’s not that. I just really need to go” she was already hurling her bag over her shoulder but Scorpius closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm.

“Please Rose, just tell me what’s going on” he pleaded, now serious.

“Nothing! I don’t have to explain myself to anyone, never mind a Malfoy who thinks he’s so entitled to know everything about everyone that he can stick his pureblood nose in anyone’s business and interrogate them like a goddamn death eater. So will you just leave me alone?”

Scorpius was speechless, his hand went slack and he watched her storm off, leaving him standing there, the knot on his stomach growing into an ache that was almost choking him. _What the hell had he done wrong?_


	2. Million Reasons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the bloody fuck is your problem Rose?” Albus spat at her, crossing his arms over his chest.
> 
> “W-wha...Albus, what the hell?” She managed, shocked that her cousin was talking to her like that.
> 
> “Look, Scorpius told me that you guys have been hooking up or whatever. To be honest, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t fucking care but as it is Scorpius has had this huge ass crush on you since forever so I told him it was a stupid fucking idea because I knew, I knew, that at some point he would only get hurt” Albus was fuming, the tips of his ears pink and matching the rest of his face. “I love you, Rose, you know I do, but you have either become a heartless bitch or you are daft as a cow. He likes you, and you go and give him hope only to be a bitch the next day and break his heart?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the super delay in getting out this chapter. It was a mix of being super busy and writer's block but I'm back and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Scorpius felt broken. After the initial shock of Rose’s words had passed he’d made his way to the lake to meet his friends. He had managed to fake a smile while they talked and competed to see who could make a rock skip more times over the water’s surface, but Rose’s words kept echoing in his brain, his chest feeling tight.

At dinner time, when he managed to gather the courage to look over at Rose, he saw her laughing at something her friend had said, looking normal as ever, and knew that whatever was going on with Rose was his fault. 

“Hey, you okay mate?” Albus said, getting his attention. Scorpius had to take a moment to gather his thoughts into a coherent answer. 

“Yeah, well...actually no” ok maybe _coherent_ was not the right adjective, “I just have a headache...I think I will get going, I um, really want to lay down” he managed. 

Albus studied him for a moment and then just nodded and watched Scorpius leave with his hands inside his pockets. 

Alone in his room, Scorpius was unable to keep his thoughts in check. He barely slept, going through every conversation they’d had lately, through all the playful name-calling between them...maybe he’d misread everything, maybe what was a game to him was actually hurting her and making her mad and she’d just had enough, maybe he shouldn’t have teased her about losing their quidditch game, he definitely shouldn’t have let her buy him all that candy. He’d only really wanted an excuse to hang out with her but now he could see he’d just been stupid. 

When morning came he had bags under his eyes and his hair was a mess from all the tossing and turning. Scorpius buried his face into his pillow as Albus opened the curtains of his bed to check up on him. Scorpius was not one to sleep in and it was already pretty late in the morning. “Hey mate, you alright?” He asked, coming closer.

“I…” Scorpius’ brain was really refusing to work, “I think I’ll stay in bed today. Still got that headache” he murmured. 

“Do you want me to go get Madam Pomfrey?” Albus offered.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine in a little while, I promise,” he said, shaking his head. It was Thursday already, and that Saturday they would be going back home for Easter break. He really just needed some time to get his shit together and come to terms with the fact that he’d fucked up his relationship with the girl he liked because he was an idiot that couldn’t keep his mouth shut. 

Time didn’t help at all.

He remembered at some point that he had patrols with Rose that afternoon and he hurriedly wrote to the head boy and girl that he was not feeling well and that he couldn’t do it. Everything was too recent, he knew if he saw Rose he wouldn’t be able to keep it together and he would end up just fucking everything up again.

By Friday afternoon Albus was done with whatever was happening with Scorpius. He was not buying his story that he was not feeling well. Madam Pomfrey had checked him over and said everything was fine and that maybe it was just that he was tired but Albus knew better. He waited until the nurse left their dorm before confronting Scorpius. 

“Ok, enough of this, what the bloody hell is going on with you?” He asked, crossing his arms. 

“I told you, I’m not feeling well,” he murmured, looking down.

“Scorp, we are _best friends_ , do you think I’m buying that?” Albus scoffed, “just tell me, you know you can trust me” he insisted but Scorpius just shook his head and got under the covers. 

It took Albus half an hour to manage to convince Scorpius to talk about what had happened and what had been going on through his head. By the time Scorpius was done he was ready to hunt down his cousin, kill her, and spend the rest of his days in Azkaban. 

“Look Scorp...I don’t know what the hell was going through Rose’s head when she said those things but they are not true. She is wrong. You were not being nosy, you guys are friends, it’s normal to be worried about your fucking friends” he sighed, and Scorpius sniffed beside him on the bed. 

“Stop beating yourself up because of this. If she was not happy with the way you were teasing her she should’ve said something. She _knows_ you, she was just being stupid” he grumbled, shaking his head, “I’m going to go get you something from the kitchens okay? Maybe they’ll make us some brownie or something, yeah?” Albus smiled, keeping it together for Scorpius’ sake. Scorpius just nodded and murmured his thanks before snuggling back into bed.

Albus found Rose in the library studying. He took a deep breath, stormed over to her, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her outside where he knew he could scream at her in peace. 

“What the bloody fuck is your problem Rose?” He spat at her, crossing his arms over his chest.

“W-wha...Albus, what the hell?” She managed, shocked that her cousin was talking to her like that.

“Look, Scorpius told me that you guys have been hooking up or whatever. To be honest, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t fucking care but as it is Scorpius has had this huge ass crush on you since forever so I told him it was a stupid fucking idea because I knew, _I knew_ , that at some point he would only get hurt” Albus was fuming, the tips of his ears pink and matching the rest of his face. “I love you Rose, you know I do, but you have either become a heartless bitch or you are daft as a cow. _He likes you,_ and you go and give him hope only to be a bitch the next day and break his heart?”

“Albus I...I would never…” She shook her head, she was trying to process too many things at once and it was a mess. “He likes me?” She said softly.

“Wha- of course, he fucking likes you for Merlin’s sake” Albus groaned, “Rose come on,” he shook his head in disbelief.

She ran a desperate hand through her hair, unsure of what to say or do.

“That man is at your beck and call. He drops whatever he is doing the moment you show up. That’s not the problem here though, the problem is that you can’t just go and use him as your personal emotional punching bag just because you are snogging him semi-regularly. You know what it was like his first year here, how close he was to dropping out or changing to another school, and you go and degrade him because he’s a Malfoy?”

“I- I didn’t… What are you talking about?” She breathed, a sense of dread overtaking her. _Oh fuck,_ what had she done?

“The other day Rose, you were outside and Scorpius asked you what was wrong because you’ve been ignoring him all week? And don’t tell me you haven’t because even I noticed” he scoffed. Albus saw the moment she slowly realized what had happened, the moment she connected the dots and was aware of just how much she’d fucked up. 

“Oh Merlin, _oh no,_ ” she murmured covering her face with her hands “That’s...I didn’t mean to…” she took a shaky breath, “I didn’t mean to hurt him, I-”

“Well you did,” he cut her off, “So you better apologize to him and you better do it in a damn good way”

“I will, I promise,” she said nodding, “I… I really care about him Al. He’s not just some guy I’ve been snogging, he’s...well he’s also my friend, one of my best friends really” her heart was racing, was she saying too much?

“Then why the hell were you avoiding him?” Albus searched her face, trying to understand.

“You have to promise you won’t say anything to him” she murmured looking away.

“What?” Albus was taken back, what on earth could make Rose seem so nervous and weird?

“Promise Al,” she repeated, finally meeting his eyes.

“Fine, fine, I promise” he lifted his hands in defeat.

“I… I realized I liked him ok? as more than a friend and uh...I just panicked. You know how my dad is, he’ll have a fit if he finds out, and also I wasn’t sure if Scorp liked me back and…” she shrugged in defeat, putting her arms around herself.

“Great sizzling dragon bogies Rose, you like him and you had to go and be a bitch to the guy?” He scoffed in disbelief, “Can’t you act like a normal human being and just confess to him and be happy forever?” He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Albus!” She shrieked, “Can you be any bloody louder?” 

“Yes, actually, I can, and I will if you don’t fix this before the Easter break ends,” he threatened.

“I will, I will, I promise,” she said quickly, “I just need to figure out what to say to him, you know?”

“Don’t get too stuck on your head Rose, just apologize” he rolled his eyes “now if you’d excuse me, I have things to do” he pushed past her and made his way to the kitchens, leaving Rose unable to continue working on her homework and trying to figure out what to say or do.

Rose barely slept that night, tossing and turning as she dreamt of Scorpius rejecting her and calling her a heartless bitch. She woke up, hair a mess, and bags under her eyes, feeling like she was going to either cry or combust when she finally managed to talk to Scorpius. She stayed in her dorm until it was time to go to the train, skipping breakfast, and got on the first available compartment, burying her nose in a book she wasn’t really reading to avoid looking through the door’s window.

When the door of her compartment opened she almost had a heart attack but looked up to find only her friends.

“Merlin Rose, why didn’t you wait for us to come to the train?” Willow asked, hurling her bag up into the overhead rack. Rose only shrugged, “sorry I just, I had a bad night, I managed to get out of bed and just wanted to avoid all the mess” she offered as an explanation though it didn’t seem that her friends were too convinced.

“Well a heads up would’ve been nice” Amber chimed in, sitting down beside Rose, “here, we are _great_ friends and brought you some breakfast” she handed Rose some fruit and a bag of cookies. 

“Is everything okay? You’ve been looking a bit down since yesterday evening” Willow asked, searching Rose’s eyes.

Rose sighed and slumped against her seat, “not really,” she murmured, “I uh… after last weekend with Scorpius I kinda freaked out and avoided him. A couple of days ago he confronted me about it and I snapped and said some hurtful things to him without thinking. I honestly didn’t even realize until yesterday when Albus came looking for me, absolutely furious and told me about it” she put her hands over her face, rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes before looking over at her friends again. “I need to apologize but I just, I don’t even know where to begin” Amber and Willow shared a look. 

“Look Rose, anyone can fuck up and say hurtful things. The important thing is that you realize and own up to it, you know? If he knows you he will understand, yeah?” Willow said, rubbing her arm soothingly. 

Rose only nodded, unsure of what to say. They were right of course but that didn’t ease the knot in her stomach. 

In the end, Rose agreed that she would only feel worse if she didn’t take the chance to talk to him on the train. As they traveled over the Scottish wilderness she made her way down the train looking for Scorpius, fidgeting with her nails all the way. 

She met Albus's eyes first through the door's window. Albus raised his eyebrows at her, alerting Scorpius who looked over at her. She was not prepared for the look he gave her, he looked...pained, shameful, and hurt. Scorpius looked away from her, choosing to wipe invisible dust off his jeans. Rose nervously opened the door as Albus stood up and looked between them.

“I’m gonna go get something from the snack lady, do you want anything Scorp?” He asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Scorpius only shook his head, looking back up at Rose nervously as she let her cousin pass and closed the door behind him. 

“So…” Rose started nervously sitting down across from him, “I came here to apologize.” She could not look him in the eye, so she just looked down at his sneakers as she spoke, “I took out my stress on you the other day and it was wrong. I am really ashamed of what I said Scorp” she murmured, “I...I can’t take back what I said, I know that, and I don't expect you to forgive me so easily but I just wanted to let you know that I don’t think those things about you at all,” she finished quietly, still unable to look him in the eye. There was a horrible moment of silence, Rose feeling every muscle in her body tense, until finally Scorpius spoke. 

“Rose…. just tell me what’s really going on,” he murmured, “I mean, you’ve been avoiding me, you can’t even look me in the eye,” Rose looked up in time to see him shake his head.

“That’s really it, I was just stressed and I don’t know,” she shrugged hopelessly, “I really don’t know what came over me, I was just overthinking about us and…” _oh shit,_ she’d absolutely overshared, she knew it the moment his eyes snapped over to hers. 

“What about us?” He asked, looking into her eyes, “Is it about the snogging? Is it...stressing you?”

“No, nothing like that,” she answered quickly, “the snogging is fine, more than fine actually,” she winced slightly, why couldn’t she just keep her mouth shut?

“I just meant,” she started again, “I’ve been in my head more than usual lately.”

“Thinking about us...but not about the snogging?” He insisted and she nodded miserably, “is it about studying then? Prefect duties? Did I...don something?

“This is… this is not going how I planned,” she sighed, defeated, “you haven’t done anything I promise, it’s just me, I’m the problem because….because...I uh…” she took a deep breath, bracing herself, “I know I said it was just a friends with benefits thing but I realized that I might be uh...developing feeling for you,” she said the last part so softly she wasn’t sure he’d heard. She was looking down again but managed to lift her eyes and look into his beautiful, perfect, face.

“You...like me?” He repeated in a soft voice, gaping at her. 

She bit her lip, giving him a small nod and feeling heat crawl up her neck and settle on her cheeks.

She saw many things pass through his face, surprise, confusion, and finally anger.

“Let me get this straight, you realized you like me and freaked out, which is why you’ve been avoiding me and then why you snapped at me the other day...is that it?”

“Well...yeah, I guess, if you wanna put it like that” she murmured fidgeting.

“I see…I’m good enough for a snog but not for anything serious right? Because I’m the son of a death eater so how dare I even look at the daughter of the minister of magic” he scoffed and Rose panicked. 

“No no, Scorpius I… I just...I was worried about what my parents would say and about your dad but now I see-“ he cut her off before she could finish. 

“I think you should leave Rose,” he said, his voice low and dangerous, “I...I deserve to be with someone who appreciates me for who I am and that is not ashamed to be seen with me.”

“I do, I swear I do” she insisted, her voice breaking. Scorpius’s hands were shaking slightly as he curled them in his lap, his eyes filling up with tears threatening to fall.

“Leave Rose,” he said again, this time more harshly. Rose stood up on shaky legs, feeling her own eyes watering. If she thought she’d fucked up before now she had really ruined everything. She jumped as she came face to face with Albus who just scowled at her and pushed past her and into the compartment, closing the door behind him. The last thing she heard before rushing to the bathrooms was the sound of someone kicking something and hushed, angry voices.

Rose made her way to the bathroom before fully breaking down, wondering how she’d been so stupid. He was right, she didn’t deserve him, she had let herself be affected by her father’s words.

Once they arrived in London Scorpius followed his father home feeling like a zombie, his chest hollow. He didn’t even realize his father had been asking him where he wanted to go eat until he shook his shoulder gently to take him out of his thoughts. Scorpius apologized and tried to last through the evening without worrying his father too much.

He didn’t do a good job. It wasn’t that his father was too good with emotions or heart to heart talks, but Scorpius’s face was an open book so even his father soon realized he wasn’t in the best of places mentally. Scorpius managed to escape his father’s questioning looks by refusing dinner and going to bed early with the excuse that he was really tired. 

When Scorpius stayed in his room till lunchtime the next day, Draco decided that it was time he figured out what was happening. As he made his way to Scorpius’s room he thought about his late wife, Astoria. She had been the kindest person he’d known and she would’ve probably done a much better job of helping Scorpius. He sighed and knocked on the door a couple of times. After two more tries with no answer, he made his way in.

Scorpius was under the covers, looking like a shapeless lump, and the rest of his room seemed untouched, like he had just been in bed all the time without even bothering with unpacking. Draco tried to think of something that would make his son act like this but came up with nothing.

“Scor?” He tried, sitting down in bed, keeping a courteous distance with Scorpius.

“Yeah?” Scorpius mumbles somewhere underneath the covers.

“Why don’t you come down and have some lunch? You haven’t eaten since yesterday…” Draco suggests and Scorpius just mumbles a “no” and curls tighter into the sheets.

“What’s going on?” He asked then, hoping the direct answer would get him somewhere. Scorpius just stayed quiet so he tried again, “I… I can tell you’re going through uh… through something. I just want you to know that I can talk, I mean, you can talk to me. About anything.” Draco cleared his throat and waited for another moment. He’s starting to think maybe Scorpius was not going to answer when finally the lump moved and Scorpius’s poofy face emerged.

“I’m just sad dad,” he offered, taking pity on him, “there’s this girl I like and...well it’s complicated” he ran a hand through his hair and his lip wobbled like he might cry again. “I’ll get over it, this is just the part that sucks, you know?” He offered his dad a small smile and Draco nodded.

“Let’s do this then, I’ll bring you some lunch and you just stay here and rest,” Draco stood up and straightened up his robes. Scorpius nodded and tried to sit up in bed, fidgeting with the covers of his bed. Draco silently made his way down and made sure to bring Scorpius his favorite food to have for lunch.

The letters started arriving the next day. Draco didn’t say anything but he saw Scorpius angrily take some of them from a grey owl and put them into his pocket without giving them a second look. He dared to ask on the third day and Scorpius’s only answer was _‘it’s part of the complicated situation’._

Slowly, Scorpius started acting more like his normal self, even though there was still something clearly going on with him. He started eating all his meals and even meeting up with Albus or some of his other friends to play games or walk around town. 

Rose arrived at Malfoy Manor at exactly 11 am, 11 days after she’d seen Scorpius last. She fidgeted with the strap of her crossbody bag and swallowed, knocking before she chickened out and returned home. A few days before her mother had found her crying in her room after another day of silence from Scorpius. She’d written him a letter every day, had called Albus to try and get him to help her, but it was really no help. There was complete and suffocating silence from the guy. She understood of course, after their conversation she wouldn’t have wanted to talk to herself either, but she needed to talk to him, she needed to try to make things right.

She’d been reluctant at first when her mother suggested that she go to his house and apologize in person and maybe do something nice for him. She wasn’t sure she would be able to handle a rejection in person. What convinced her was the fact that she knew if she didn’t do this now, she would probably never have another chance of talking to him alone. Besides, if she was going to try and do a grand gesture for him she might as well take advantage of the fact they could apparate to London or anywhere else they wanted, a liberty they wouldn’t have once they were back in school.

When the door opened she was so absorbed in her thoughts she almost screamed. “Hello...can I help you?” A smooth voice greeted her. She’d seen Scorpius’s dad from afar in the station or when he went to the Potter’s to pick up Scorpius when they were younger. It was different though, seeing him so up close, towering over her. He was intimidating, dressed in dark robes and looking at her with a guarded expression.

“I uh… is Scorpius home? I uh… I’m Rose Weasley, I don’t know if you remember me sir.., I just wanted to talk to him” she managed to explain, her voice small. 

“Sure” he nodded, “why don’t you come on in and sit down, I’ll go get him” he started walking into the house without waiting for her answer and she followed him quickly, feeling like she was intruding. He guided her into the living room, offered her something to drink, which she refused, and made his way upstairs. 

While he was gone Rose went through her carefully crafted plan again. She would beg for his forgiveness, tell him she’d been an idiot and that she knew she didn’t deserve him, ask him to hang out with her, take him to fun muggle places in London, and then she would...she would…

Her mouth went dry as Scorpius came down the stairs alone, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with some silly joke about star wars printed. He looked like some kind of god, a nerdy god, yes, but a young, hot god anyway.

“Rose…” he started with a sigh, looking pained.

“Before you say anything, I just want to clarify that I came here because...because…” her brain seemed to have slowed down, “I was an idiot, I...I know that but I need to make things right because I just- I can’t-“ she took a shaky breath as she felt her eyes water, “I can’t lose you Scorpius,” she managed, “please give me a chance to explain...to apologize” she begged.

Scorpius knew he was going to give in the moment her eyes watered. This was the problem, he just couldn’t handle Rose crying or being upset. She finished her speech and looked at him with pleading eyes, “let me take you out for lunch...I um...I have something planned,” she offered, still searching his eyes. He only managed to nod, and Rose’s relieved smile made his already delicate heart skip a beat.

They stayed there a moment, looking into each other’s eyes, until Scorpius cleared his throat, “lead the way then,” he muttered, motioning to the door. Rose stood up then and avoided his eyes as she made her way to the door, knowing Scorpius was right behind her. Once they were outside of the protective charms around the house she offered her hand, “I’ll apparate us,” she explained when he just looked at her. 

He hesitated a moment before curling his hand around her arm. It’s not what she wanted but she would take it. Rose apparated them into an alley and hesitantly looked up at him before guiding him into the main street. 

“I uh… got us some tickets to Kew Gardens...I know you mentioned you’d never been so I thought we could have a picnic here and talk,” she explained and found that Scorpius looked pleasantly surprised. The nervous knot in her stomach eased as she guided him in a comfortable silence through the gates of the garden.

They walked for a while, looking around in wonder as they entered the temperate house and were quickly surrounded by huge palms, cycads, and various other plants that were thriving in the humid heat. They were exploring the walkway that surrounded the place on the second floor when Rose’s stomach made an audible growling sound. She blushed a deep shade of red as Scorpius looked down at her and chuckled.

“You said something about a picnic?” he said, his voice teasing as she somehow managed to blush even harder. 

“Yeah,” Rose finally managed, putting a piece of stray hair behind her ear, “let’s get out and find a nice place to settle down.” 

It took them around ten minutes to find a nice, shaded spot to lay down the blanket Rose had brought with her. Scorpius was only mildly surprised to see her open her small crossbody bag and pull out, not only the blanket but also what looked like enough food and drinks for three or four people. “I wasn’t sure what you’d be in the mood for so I kind of went overboard, I know,” she explained when she caught his questioning look, her cheeks reddening.

“You didn’t have to do all this Rose…” he finally managed to say, Rose’s blush just got darker. 

“Yes, I did… I know this is no compensation for the way I fucked up, but I was serious when I said I want to make things better,” she murmured as she looked down and played with the hem of her jeans, avoiding his eyes.

Scorpius studied her for a moment. His chest had been feeling tight ever since he’d laid his eyes on Rose back at his house and as a charged silence settled between them the feeling grew until it felt like it was choking him. He looked away too, taking a deep breath as he tried to settle his racing heart.

“So… you met my death eater dad and lived to see another day,” he finally murmured bitterly. He saw Rose flinch from the corner of his eyes.

“I had already met him,” Rose said softly, “I mean… not officially but I’ve been there when he’s come to pick you up from Albus’s,” Rose bit her lip trying to figure out what Scorpius was thinking, what she could possibly say to make things better, “he’s...intimidating,” she admitted softly, “but he was nice, he offered me something to drink.”

Scorpius chuckled humorlessly and finally looked back at her, “he’s not the best father in the world… but he’s been trying his best ever since mom passed away,” he was quiet for a moment and Rose nibbled on her lip nervously as she waited for him to continue. “In any case… he’s not the monster people seem to think he is. He was my age when he was recruited. He doesn’t talk very often about that time, I don’t think it’s something he wants to remember, but he was forgiven for a reason.”

“I know,” Rose said quickly, “he...I mean,” it was Rose’s time to take a deep breath to steady herself, “I really let my father’s rivalry with yours get to me more than I should’ve. When I realized my feelings I panicked. Not because I am ashamed of you or something like that, I was just afraid of what my father would say and of Albus and...well...of you,” she murmured the last part, “I didn’t know how to face you without acting like an absolute idiot. Although I guess I acted like an even bigger idiot when I let all my feelings pent up and explode at once” she put her face in her hands.

“You are not a bad person Scorpius, quite the opposite. You are funny and kind and you really don’t deserve to be treated the way I treated you,” she looked up and met his eyes, “if you want me out of your life I will absolutely understand, but I couldn’t bear the thought of letting you think those things I said were the real way I felt about you.”

Scorpius was quiet for just a moment before he spoke, his shoulders relaxing, “I don’t want you out of my life Rose…” he said softly and finally gave her a small smile. Even though the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes Rose felt herself relaxing a little bit, “but...what you said really hurt me and I guess I need some time to process everything, you know?”

“Yes, of course,” she answered quickly, nodding, “whatever you need is fine, don’t worry” 

As they finally dug into the food she’d brought with her Rose’s mind wandered back to when his cousin had told her that Scorpius liked her. Maybe that had been the case before she’d gone and fucked everything up but she was pretty sure that he didn’t want anything to do with her romantically now. It was fine though, as long as Rose was able to keep him in her life she was good with having a platonic relationship with him. 

The next few weeks, as they settled back into the school’s routine, Rose found that now that she had finally admitted her feelings to herself and that she was no longer panicking over everything, she was in fact completely gone for Scorpius. 

She first realized it first when she found that her mother had washed the sweatshirt that Scorpius had lent her while she was home and she wondered if she could convince Albus to spray some of Scorpius’s perfume on the sweatshirt and give it back to her. It was a stupid idea of course, if she even tried to ask Albus something like that she knew he would make fun of her about it until they were both old and wrinkly, so she did the sensible thing and gave the sweatshirt back to Scorpius. She knew she was too far gone the day he invited her to play quidditch after school with some other people from the quidditch teams and she took a quaffle to the face because she was too busy looking at him as he tried to catch the ball while hanging upside-down from his broom and missed, letting it drop into Amber’s hands who threw it at Rose. 

He’d fallen off his broom trying to go over to her to check if she was alright and they’d both ended up in the infirmary getting checked by Madam Pomfrey, trying not to laugh as she scolded them for flying in an irresponsible way. 

They were both discharged at dinner time so they made their way to the great hall in a comfortable silence. 

Scorpius felt conflicted. He had known for some time now that there was no getting over Rose for him. He’d tried before, back when he’d figured his chances with Rose were close to zero he’d tried dating other girls. Needless to say, it had not worked, and it was not working now as he tried to go back to only being friends with Rose and nothing more. 

The thing was she’d really hurt him, and even though she had apologized and he had believed her when she said she didn’t really think those things she’d said about him, truth was he could not get over the fact that somewhere, maybe deep into her unconscious mind, but somewhere, she still saw him as the son of a death eater. The thoughts of that and of all the things her father had probably told her about him and his family were eating him alive, and he just couldn’t figure out what to do. She liked him back, she’d said so a couple of times and Albus had confirmed it, telling her he felt the same way and asking her out should’ve been easy but he knew his thoughts about all of this would eventually get in the way so he was trying to buy time and think things through. Or at least that’s what he told himself as he sat by one of the windows in the common room and watched the fish swim by, unable to sleep and listening to some muggle music from Albus’s smartphone. 

He thought about asking Albus or any of his other friends for advice, but he knew most of them wouldn’t understand and that he’d already caused enough trouble between Albus and Rose. Not for the first time that week he wondered if talking to his father would help.

His father was not the most communicative or understanding person he knew, but he’d been dealing with prejudice all his life, both from others and from his own family, so maybe he was the perfect person to ask about getting over someone you care about saying hurtful things to you.

It took him a couple more hours of internal debate but he ended up pouring out his thoughts into a three-page letter explaining everything (well, almost everything, he didn’t include the friends with benefits thing, just kinda implied there’d been some romantic advances).

His father’s answer arrived a couple of days later. It took him almost another day to open the letter and read it. He was really nervous about what he would find in there, so he just waited until everyone had gone to bed and sneaked into the common room to read it in absolute solitude. In a very anticlimactic turn of events, his father’s letter started with pleasantries. He told him about his work, his newfound love for gardening, and about the book he was currently reading. It wasn’t until the second page that he found what he was looking for…

_Scorpius,_ the paragraph started, _I want to start by saying that I am proud of you, both for saying clearly that you do not deserve to be treated that way and for thinking your feelings through before acting on them. Now regarding your question, I don’t really have an answer. There is no easy way to forgive someone for doing something that hurt you, but at least your friend Rose has taken the first step and she has acknowledged what she did wrong and apologized. The rest takes time, she will need to prove to you that she is not going to repeat her actions and that she is truly sorry for what she did and you need to figure out if this is enough for you._

_I hope my answer is not too disappointing, even though it’s not exactly what you were hoping to get._

_This said I think I can support you in one thing. I think I can give you a new perspective about her actions. As you know the rivalry between the Weasleys and the Malfoys can be tracked a few generations back. Your grandfather and her grandfather never saw eye-to-eye, and I was raised to believe that the Weasleys were beneath us. It took me a long time to start questioning my father’s beliefs and even longer to even trust my judgment enough to start contradicting him._

_The thing is son, even as you become your own person with your own ideals, whatever your parents taught you stay there in your mind, not as something you believe in but as something the people you care about think. It looms over your own actions and makes you question if what you’re doing is right._

_I said very hurtful things while in school to both of Rose’s parents and it only got worse as time went by, I can’t really blame her parents for not liking me, even after all the things we’ve gone through together. It is also true that I was a death eater, and death eaters brought a lot of pain and suffering to people for a long time. I’m sure she’s been told a lot of horrible stories about me and what I was, but she still showed up to our house, looked me in the eye, and asked if she could see you. She wanted to make things right with you, and I believe maybe she wanted to even show you that she didn’t even care about my past. Maybe that is enough for you to take a chance on her and allow her to back her words with actions..._ The letter went on but Scorpius had to put it down and think for a moment. Maybe his father was right and he didn’t have to have everything figured out to take a chance. Maybe he was being too harsh on both him and Rose...he needed time to heal, yes, but he could do so with her by his side.

The next day he looked for her between his Potions class and Arithmancy class, “Rose…” he called, catching up with her as she made her way to charms, “Would you go on a date with me this Saturday? to Hogsmeade?” Rose just gaped at him, gripping the book in her arms a little tighter against her chest, “Is that a no?” he chuckled bashfully when she wouldn’t say anything.

“no, no, no,” she said quickly, snapping out of it, “I’d love to go,” she gave him a small smile playing absentmindedly with the corner of the book, “just wondering what uh...why you’re asking now…”

Scorpius shrugged, not wanting to elaborate too much on his change of heart, “just been thinking about it lately…” he offered, trying not to be too specific.

“oh okay,” her blush deepened and she shifted uncomfortably, “well I should get going, or I’ll be late to class” she motioned in the general direction or the charms classroom and he nodded running a hand through his hair.

“Right, yeah,” he lingered there for a moment, “see you later Weaselbee,” he finally teased with a small smirk and gave her a mock salute before leaving, his heart pounding against his ribs.

Saturday morning found Rose making a mess of her trunk as she went over at least five different outfits for the date. She didn’t want to go too overboard but she did want to look nice for Scorpius. She finally settled on some white jeans and a blue flowery shirt, very much in the spirit of spring. 

She made her way to the great hall a little bit late and found Scorpius having breakfast alone while reading the newspaper. He looked like an old man in a young guy’s body, his polo shirt stretching over his shoulder muscles. Rose loved it. She sat down opposite to him and met his eyes when he looked up surprised by the sound.

“So, what are we doing today?” She asked while filling her plate with some eggs and bacon.

“Well, it’s nice out today so I thought we could walk around Hogsmeade and then go to that new cafe that opened a few months ago. They are doing a special event today about cat adoption and so it will be filled with cats that you can pet and stuff...I thought it might be fun,” Rose perked up at the mention of cats. She’d been thinking of adopting a cat recently, she liked the family owl but she wanted a companion for herself like Crookshanks was to her mom.

“That sounds awesome!” She grinned, “I’ve been meaning to go for some time now. Amber said that their cakes are even better than Madam Puddifot’s”

“I actually heard their specialty are their muffins, they have a bunch of different flavors”

Talk of cake and quidditch carried them through the walk to Hogsmeade. Once there, they took a leisure stroll, stopping by Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes so Rose could say hi to Teddy and to get some freebies from him. He eyed them curiously but didn’t say anything about them hanging out alone. Teddy was probably up to date with the gossip of their complicated situation thanks to Victoire but he had enough tact to keep his thoughts to himself. 

“Teddy is so dead once uncle Fred finds out he lets me take whatever I want from the shop” Rose chuckled as she put away the Wonder Witch products she’d gotten. Scorpius chuckled beside her, shaking his head. He was about to say something but the words died in his throat as she dropped her hand between them and her fingers touched his. He recognized the opportunity and closed the distance between their hands, curling his fingers around hers, not without feeling his heart start beating wildly against his ribs. Rose kept walking, not even glancing his way, but her fingers curled around his too and she gave his hand a small squeeze.

“I’m sure Teddy has a way of getting away with it, he’s always gotten whatever he wanted,” Scorpius offered once he was more or less sure that his voice would remain steady.

“Well, I can’t deny that,” Rose chuckled and looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with humor. 

By the time the coffee shop came into view Rose was practically jumping with excitement. She tugged on Scorpius’ hand urging him to go faster and he obliged, chuckling to himself as he saw her practically barge into the coffee shop and let out a squeal at the sight of all the cats hanging around.

“why don’t you go find a seat?” he offered knowing what she wanted the most was to find a place to cuddle with a cat, “I’ll go get our drinks and join you.”

Rose nodded, not really looking at Scorpius, and walked around, stopping to pet some of the cats. She finally made her way over to a booth in the back of the shop where a gorgeous white cat, with long hair was napping. She sat down, careful not to disturb the animal, and hesitated a moment before starting to pet it. The cat immediately moved towards her fingers, purring softly as it sleepily rubbed its head against her hand. 

“I see you found the cutest cat around before settling down on a table,” Scorpius teased from beside her as he put the two coffees he’d ordered down along with a huge piece of chocolate cake.

Rose stuck her tongue out at him, “I think all cats are cute,” she offered but she knew it was half a lie, all cats were cute but this one just had something special. Not for the first time, Rose wondered if this date meant what she thought it meant. Even after the train incident, some part of her had hoped that there was a way for her to fix things with Scorpius. Their date during spring break had changed her mind, they could go back to being friends but she had missed her chance. Or at least that’s what she thought until he’d suddenly asked her on a date, a real date, an official one. 

“Scorp…” she murmured softly after a long stretch of comfortable silence between them, looking up into his eyes, “why did you ask me out on a date?”

Scorpius slowly lowered his cup- which he’d been about to take a sip from- onto the table. He felt heat crawl up his neck as he tried to process her question, wasn’t it obvious?

“what do you mean?” he swallowed, hoping to ease the increasing tension in his throat. 

“I- well-” Rose struggled to get the words out, “I told you how I felt,” she finally murmured, looking down and focusing on a small indent on the table, “but you never uh… never told me how you felt. I mean, I did fuck everything up so I guess you also didn’t really have a chance but...well...I was just wondering.” Rose was going to die, she really was. Scorpius was quiet, but she could feel his eyes on her.

“Rose…” he spoke softly and waited patiently as she gathered the courage to look up at him, “I like you, I’ve liked you for some time now. I just... needed some time to process everything that happened, but I never really stopped feeling this way, so I decided to finally ask you out, now that I know the feeling is mutual” they were both blushing madly, the air between them almost cackling with energy, but Scorpius’s voice was strong and sure and Rose felt the self-doubt that had been bothering her ease. 

“Can I kiss you?” She asked almost hesitantly, though her body seemed to lean closer to his, already anticipating a positive response. Scorpius chose to close the distance between them instead of answering.

They had kissed before, several times, but in the wake of their confession, surrounded by the warm smell of coffee and the soft purr of the cat still on Rose’s side everything felt different. Rose leaned into the kiss, cupping Scorpius’s neck with her hands, her fingertips feeling the strong line of his jaw as one of his arms circled her waist while his other hand buried itself in her soft hair.

When they finally made their way back to the castle it was already dinner time. Scorpius stopped Rose gently right before they entered the great hall and before she could protest, he leaned down and gave her a kiss, lingering on her lips for a moment before completely straightening up. 

Scorpius couldn’t help but chuckle at the dazed expression on her face as she looked up at him "See you later, Weaselbee," Scorpius teased, flicking her nose playfully before quickly making his way to the Slytherin table.

"Later you wanker" Rose murmured, unable to hide her smile before going over to sit with her friends.

"I take it the date went well?" Willow asked, looking at Rose with wide eyes. 

"I guess you could say that, yeah... Scorpius and I are sort of together now..." Rose finally said, a bit shyly.

Willow gave her an approving smirk but Amber looked a bit concerned, "Are you going to tell your parents?" She finally asked, making Rose sober up a bit.

"No! I mean we just started dating today" Rose said shaking her head, “telling them can wait, for now, I just want to see how things work out with Scor..."

"That's probably a good idea," Amber agreed.

“Scor? Really? You really have it bad Rose” Willow teased her, looking over Rose’s shoulder for a moment, “though maybe not as bad as Scorpius, he can’t keep his eyes off you,” she chuckled and watched as Rose turned a bright shade of pink and bit her lip. 

Over at the Slytherin table, Scorpius was eating with some of his roommates when Albus sat beside him. 

"Hey mate, do you- was that Rose?" Albus stopped mid-sentence to point at the reddening spot in Scorpius' neck that was quickly turning into a hickey, looking horrified. 

"Yeah..." He answered cautiously. 

"Well she's a feisty one, isn't she?" One of the guys Scorpius had been talking to said, as he leaned to see what Albus was talking about, a smirk on his face.

"Sod off," Scorpius said, chuckling.

"How did you manage to land a bird like Rose eh Malfoy?" The other guy said. 

"Oi Greg, don't talk about my cousin like that," Albus said, to the other guy. 

Scorpius smirked slightly, but decided to respond since Al was right there and he did like living. 

"Well it's true Al." Greg replied with a shrug, " Just be happy that it was Scorp here that got her and not some sleazy bloke."

"That's true," Scorpius said with an innocent look, looking over at Albus. 

"Scorpius is a sleazy bloke," Albus said matter-of-factly, even though they both knew he didn’t mean it.

"Thanks, mate," Scorpius said, dryly.

"Anytime," he said with a small smirk.

Two months after they got together they had their first big fight. 

Rose entered the library after taking a deep breath to brace herself. Just like she had anticipated she found Scorpius hunched over his notes and scribbling madly into a parchment. 

"Hey Scorp," Rose said after sitting down on the empty chair beside him, "I've been looking for you." 

"Well, you found me," he murmured, only taking his eyes off his work for a moment to glance at her.

"You've been here all day?" She tried, studying his face.

"Pretty much..." He didn’t even bother looking up this time. 

"Why don't you take a break Scorp?" She said, running a soothing hand through his hair, “you've been here all weekend." Rose was worried for him, he'd been like that since the past week when his studying schedule had been severed by an unplanned flu. Now he was stressing over the NEWTs and he hadn't left the library in three days trying to catch up.

"Rose... Please not now..." Scorpius said, "You know how important it is for me to get into this healing program."

"I know but you've been down here for too long. You do need to rest at some point Scorpius'' she said more forcefully than she intended, "just five minutes.'' Rose put a hand over his wrist, preventing him from writing. 

"I'll rest later.." He sighed impatiently, when she didn’t budge he snatched his hand out of her grasp. "Come on Rose, we can do something later I promise," he offered, getting annoyed that she wouldn't just let him be, he was stressed enough.

"That's the same thing you said yesterday and I've barely seen your face since," she sighed crossing her arms over her chest.

"Merlin Rose, I said I would see you later and I will, now please just leave me alone.”

"Oh yeah? Just like you promised me yesterday that we would have lunch together and then just decided to stay here the entire bloody afternoon?” she snapped, “yeah that worked out pretty well last time.”

Scorpius finally looked at her, regret evident in his panicked eyes, "Shit...," he murmured, running a hand through his hair, "I'm sorry..."

"I get it, you're stressed, you forgot, whatever, at least take care of yourself so I don’t have to be angry and worried about you at the same time,” she grumbled, her anger dissipating the more she looked into his blood-shot eyes. He was probably too tired to function, let alone remember things.

Rose stood up, "Whenever you feel like it, I told the elves to save you some food," she murmured, turning to leave, feeling drained from the conversation. 

Scorpius stood up and followed her, "Rose, wait..." he grabbed her hand to stop her, "Please don't be upset... I'm sorry I snapped..."

Rose took a moment before looking back at him. "Scorpius, I get that you're stressed and all that but I don't know…,” she shrugged, “I'm not upset about lunch, I figured you had forgotten but..." She looked away from him. If she was being honest with herself the way he had acted earlier had hurt her. She’d just been trying to take care of him and he’d snapped at her.

"I know I was a total arse....." He said, looking at her, "What can I do so you won't be upset...?" She was quiet, still not looking at him. “Let's just go to the kitchens together..." he offered, his eyes pleading.

"You don’t have to do that, if you really need to keep studying you can just stay here," she murmured in response, looking up at him.

“no, no, you were right, I probably need a break. I’ve been trying to read the same paragraph for half an hour,” he shook his head, “just let me get my things and we can get going.” Scorpius hesitantly let go of her hand, like he was afraid she would just leave once he wasn’t physically keeping her from leaving.

“Are you sure?” Rose asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah..." He said, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Rose nodded and waited patiently as he organized his things and put all the books back quickly. They walked side-by-side, close but not touching, and Rose kept her arms around herself, even if her eyes had softened. 

"Have you slept at all these past few nights?" She finally asked after a while, noticing the dark marks under his eyes, more evident under the soft lights of the hallways.

"I've slept enough..." he murmured.

"You don't look like it..." He just gave a small shrug but didn't really comment further on the subject.

They finally got to the kitchens, closing the door behind them as they made their way in. 

"Hey Lanny," Rose greeted her favorite elf. She'd met her one day when she stayed up late in the common room. She woke up to find the little elf putting a blanket over her. "Can you bring Scorpius something to eat?" She asked kindly. 

"Of course Miss Weasley.." She said with a little curtsey. "Lanny will bring it right away"

"They had your favorite today..." Rose commented, looking back at Scorpius.

"You are amazing..." Scorpius said, giving her a small smile as he thanked the little elf who brought him the food, "I really am sorry..." He said again, not touching his food quite yet. 

"It's alright Scorpius..." She said, putting a small strand of hair behind her ear before hugging her knees to her chest, looking thoughtful.

"I still feel like you are upset with me..." He said, softly placing his food beside him

Rose sighed softly, leaning over and placing her head on his shoulder, effectively avoiding his eyes, "I'm not, I'm just worried about you..." 

Rose lifted her chin to look up at him, "you should eat," she said softly.

Scorpius gave her a small smile and placed a kiss on her forehead before getting the plate and taking a few bites. He wasn’t hungry, the tension in his body making it feel like he could barely swallow, but he forced himself to take a few bites knowing she was right and it was better for him in the long run.

"You're going to get into the program Scorp, I have no doubt about it" she reassured him, snuggling closer to him, "you've studied so much you'll get to the test and finish it in two seconds."

Scorpius snorted, "I really hope that's the case..." His goal for some time now had been to get into the healing apprenticeship program in San Mungo’s hospital. It was the best healing program in Europe and one of the best in the world. Because of this, not only did you need to have amazing NEWT grades to get in but also you needed to pass the extremely difficult access test.

"What were you studying?" Rose asked when he set the almost empty plate down.

"History..." He sighed trying to rub the tiredness out of his eyes, he needed to do one last revision if he wanted to catch up on his studying schedule. 

Rose hummed beside him, thoughtful, "you know,” she started, giving him a cheeky smile as she looked up at him, “maybe I could help you revise, I’m sure we could make it interesting.”

“I’m listening…” he murmured, the husky tone of her voice making heat pool in the pit of his stomach.

“it’s almost curfew and we don’t have rounds today, we could sneak to the prefect's bathroom and play some strip-revise…” 

"Strip-revise?" He asked giving her a look, if it was anything similar to strip poker then this was going to be interesting.

"Every time you answer correctly I'll take something off, and if you answer incorrectly I'll put it on" she said, smoothly. Scorpius didn’t need any more convincing.

Just fifteen minutes later they were settling down in the empty changing room of the prefect’s bathroom. The room is small, the walls featuring lockers where they can leave their stuff when they use the showers. There is a sitting area in the middle, covered in comfortable cushions. Rose is the first to settle down there, crossing her legs and going through his revision notes. Scorpius sat before her, his mind already distracted by the prospect of seeing his girlfriend naked. They had had some pretty intense snogging sessions so far but mostly in secluded places, with bad lighting. 

"Ready?" She asked with a smirk looking up at him with heated eyes. Scorpius didn’t trust his voice so he only nodded, "year of the discovery of the first healing spell"

"304 A.D...." Scorpius said, a bit hesitant

"Yes," she smiled and slid her jersey off. "This is fun" she chuckled. "The great goblin war?" 

"1256,” that was an easy one. She undid her shirt and tossed it on her side, Scorpius’ throat went dry at the sight of her breasts hugged by a black bra, "Who invented the love potion?"

"Bloody hell..." He muttered having trouble remembering, "Louis... Grandville?"

"Nope sorry, it's Louis Therdinar, William Grandville invented the obsessive potion," she said, and slipped her shirt back on, though she didn’t bother to redo the buttons. 

"Let's see... John Mackenzie invented...?"

"Truth serum..."

"Yeah," she said and took her shirt off again. "What year was Gringotts made in?"

"1509" 

"I'll need to start asking harder questions," she said, teasingly as she slipped off her shoes. "Alright so... Five most important battles of the last decade for my socks and pants" Rose said, leaning back on her arms. 

"First and second battle of Hogwarts..." he said, thinking, "both goblin wars.... and..." He gave her a small smirk, "the battle of troll hill."

"Nope," Scorpius paled, looking longingly at her chest.

"I'm just joking you got them," she chuckled and took off her socks before standing up and taking her pants off in a manner she hoped was suggestive, enjoying his heated gaze, "having fun?" She teased, enjoying his shocked eyes as she climbed into his lap, straddling his legs.

"You could say that..." He said, his voice low, as he placed his hands over her thighs, feeling his pants tighten. 

"Let's see... It has to be a good one for my underwear...." She teased, letting one of the straps of her bra fall over her shoulder. "Who was the commander of the defense troop in the battle of troll hill?"

"Commander Showings?" He asked

"Well he was technically not really the commander but he did the job when the other couldn't so I'll give it to you as half good" Rose said, teasing and taking off her bra, covering herself with her arm. "So the next one to take the arm away," she said, Scorpius could see she was having fun teasing him. "So when was the Parlay of arms signed? And if you tell me who signed it and what the agreement was I'll take _everything off_ ” she murmured, leaning over to speak right against his ear.

"William Bradstreet..." He said, with certainty, "But I have no idea about the agreement." He admitted

Rose chuckled. "William Bradstreet made the Landlords promise to pay their workers with money and a share of the things they produced and made them pay taxes according to the people they offered work to, as well as setting a punishment for those that tried to hide things to pay less." She said, gently before taking the arm away and putting it around his neck, using it as leverage to pull him into a heated kiss. As his hands wandered over her soft skin she stopped him, "not so quick mister," she chuckled, "alright you decide. The question is the name of the last magical king, if you answer correctly you either get a feel, my underwear, or I get to take something off of you" she said, her lips very close to his as she spoke before she gave him a soft kiss.

"King Charles X," Scorpius said, his hands on her hips, waiting for her reply

"Yes.." She smiled, "so what's it gonna be?"

Scorpius slid his shirt off before easily lifting her up and switching their position so she was laying down on the cushions, her legs parted to make space for his hips. 

"Are we still playing?" Rose murmured, sounding a bit breathless, crossing her legs around his hips to pull him closer. 

Scorpius hid his face against the crook of her neck as he tried to stifle a moan, "we are," he breathed, his voice husky.

Rose bit her lip as she felt Scorpius start nibbling on her neck, moving his lips up slowly to tease the sensitive spot behind her ear, "in what war did the commander brew felix felicis and gave it to his troops losing his rank as a commander?" she finally managed to ask, her fingers playing with the nape of his neck.

"The first muggle world war," he answered against her skin, moving his lips down her neck, her clavicle, and finally between her breasts..

“I can’t think of more questions,” she moaned, arching her back as she felt his mouth against her nipple. Scorpius chuckled and moved to her other breast, giving it the same attention. Rose buried her fingers into his hair and pulled him up into an urgent kiss. She all but mewled as his hips ground against hers. 

"Scorp... I-” she started but was interrupted by the sound of someone entering the bathroom. They looked at each other in panic, neither daring to move. The voices seemed to move past the changing rooms and go into the bathroom, probably they were only there to use the toilets. 

Scorpius was careful when sitting up, grimacing as he tried to subtly fix himself inside his pants. Rose couldn’t help but chuckle as she dressed quickly, “next time, I think I can help you with that,” she teased signaling to his bulge. Scorpius blushed but chuckled, “I’ll take that as a promise,” he pulled her into a kiss, not ready to let her go yet, especially as they heard the people that had come in earlier leave the place.

Two weeks later Rose got what she considered her worst period that year. Her best friend brought her chocolate and tea but in the midst of the potion for pain not working she only wanted her boyfriend to hold her and to cry. She went over to the kitchens after a failed excursion to the hospital wing looking for more painkillers the nurse denied it since it would be dangerous and being there so close to the dungeons and so far from the Gryffindor tower made her decide something. Maybe Scorpius couldn't be with her because he was out flying around in quidditch practice but his room was very much close. She had sneaked into the Slytherin common room before, both her cousin and her boyfriend shared a room and sometimes they liked to hang out there. 

About thirty minutes after Rose curled into Scorpius’ bed Professor Slughorn came upstairs on his usual round to check on the students, "Miss. Weasley!" He said, startled, "What in the world are you doing here?"

Rose looked up, just lifting her head up slightly from the pillow. "Look professor" she started, her eyes all watery as she felt the urge to cry. "I'm on my period and I am in a lot of pain," she said, still curled up in a ball. "And... And Scorpius was not there because he has practice and I really need him right now but-," tears fell from her eyes but she decided to let them be, she felt horrible and maybe this would add to the effect and let Rose get away with this without detention. "Well, he's not in the castle because he's in quidditch practice, and his bed was the best next thing and it was closer," she sniffed, "I get it if you want to give me detention but just... Please don't make me move right now," she pleaded softly.

Slughorn was quiet for a few moments not quite knowing what to say, he never knew how to handle a crying girl, "Ok, Ok Miss. Weasley, I will let you go with just a warning this time, but don't stay up here too much longer and if I catch you again it'll be detention for a week you hear me?" Slughorn asked, trying to sound stern.

"Yes sir," she said softly and buried her face on the pillow after he left.

A few hours later after a long quidditch practice and a quick shower, Scorpius was tired and decided to call it an early night while Albus went with some of the guys. He almost had a heart attack when he saw Rose sitting on his bed, "Jeez Rose," he breathed, "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice soft. "How was practice?" Rose brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin there.

"It was fine..." He said, looking at her, "What are you doing here..?" He asked and as he got closer to her saw that her eyes and face were slightly red

"I just..... I wanted a cuddle... And I have horrible cramps and the potion did nothing, and your bed smells like you so I just came here" she sniffed. "Slughorn found me but he let me stay with a warning," she said, softly

"Come here..." Scorpius said, softly and sat down on the bed pulling her into his arms. Rose moved the covers over them, snuggling closer to him. Scorpius ran his fingers softly through her hair. "My Rose," he said, softly kissing her forehead, and a word bubbled in Rose's chest... Love. It startled her, but it felt right, she did love Scorpius if she thought about it. She sighed softly, the smell of his cologne making her feel cozier, and decided to keep her thoughts to herself, worried she'd ruin the moment.

Rose curled into his arms. "Why do women have to have periods?" She said, miserably, her head on his chest, "I missed you today.... And I feel I wanna cry about it which sucks because it's not that big of a deal.... I hate periods" she sighed.

"It'll be ok.." Scorpius held her close to him, "And I missed you too." 

Rose looked up at him with a small smile and kissed him softly. " also I stole a pair of your sweatpants..." She said, after a moment of silence. "My pants were too uncomfortable," she said, once she was laying down on his chest again

Scorpius chuckled, "Ok." He didn't mind. As they cuddled, their tiredness caught up with them and they both drifted off to sleep.

Scorpius woke up about two hours later at the sound of Albus stumbling over his things. Scorpius rubbed his eyes and found Rose still sleeping peacefully beside him. She was quite a deep sleeper. 

"Please please tell me you have clothes on," Albus said. He had almost fallen when he saw the dark auburn hair of his cousin in Scorpius' bed.

"Don't worry..." Scorpius muttered, "We are fully clothed.."

"What is Rose doing up here?" Albus asked

"She wasn’t feeling well and came up here, I found her when I came back from practice," he said, sitting up, “we just fell asleep after a while.”

"I didn't know you were that boring" Albus teased looking at his cousin curled up in the bed.

"So you think," Scorpius said, flipping him off.

"You're going to have to kick her off the bed to wake her up," Albus said, nodding towards Rose still oblivious to the conversation. 

"Thanks for the tip." Scorpius chuckled as Al left the room, he had been there to leave his bag before going down to get some dinner.

Scorpius looked at the time and went back to the bed curling behind Rose, slipping a hand around her waist. "Rose," he murmured in her ear, kissing her neck softly.

Rose stirred slightly and Scorpius gave a small smile, "Rose wake up.." He said, softly and kissed her neck again

"That's a nice way to wake up" she murmured, feeling his warm lips kissing her neck and jaw softly. 

"I'm glad..." he said and kissed her softly on the lips when she turned to him 

"Is it dinner time yet?" She mumbled sleepily, her eyes still closed

"Yeah… We should go down," Scorpius said. 

“I guess,” she pouted, looking up at him.

“Come on, you will feel better after you get some food in you,” he insisted, helping her up. 

"Can’t you carry me down?" she asked, standing up beside him.

"Love, I would love to, but I am so tired I’m pretty sure my legs would give in if we tried. We can walk slowly if you want though" Scorpius chuckled ruffling her hair playfully. 

She pushed him away but laughed anyway and laced her fingers through his before letting him guide her to the great hall. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve her dorky, loving boyfriend but she was glad to be able to call him hers.


End file.
